An excellent start to racing on the Tapeta

It's been just over two weeks since we opened our gates again to racegoers after those three months out of action. In the last 15 days we've staged 3 race meetings on the new Tapeta track which have been well attended and well received by all in the racing community.

Group 1 winning jockeys have been racking up the winners on the new surface with William Buick, Kieren Fallon, James Doyle, Neil Callan and George Baker just a few of the names to pick up one of the 21 races so far. It's the less decorated jockeys though that have been grabbing the headlines from the meetings with Rachael Kneller returning here, to her local track, to pick up a 20/1 winner with a fabulous ride aboard Arlecchino's Leap in the first race on Monday 18 August, this was followed later in the week by another superb female jockey performance when Amy Scott rode a double, getting 14/1 shot Dream Catcher first past the post, before notching a more comfortable victory aboard 9/2 joint second favourite Zed Candy Girl.

Although a few jockeys, owners and trainers have won a couple of races, there remains only one horse to do so. The racecourse has uncovered a Tapeta star in Low Cut Affair (pictured), ridden on both occasions by Declan Bates, the 2 year old has taken to the surface like a duck to water, winning by a combined 11 lengths in Class 6 company. Trained by David Evans, there is surely some valuable prize money to be won in handicaps by the filly during the fast approaching All-Weather Championship season.

Racing continues this evening with a seven race card beginning at 6.20pm. Ryan Moore makes his first trip to Wolverhampton in a while to ride just the one for Sir Michael Stoute. The 3 year old gelding, Freemason, carries the Highclere Thoroughbred Racing colours and will oppose 11 runners including two Godolphin runners, both trained by Charlie Appleby and a John Gosden runner, owned by Group 1 winning owner George Strawbridge, most notably known recently for Moonlight Cloud and Thought Worthy.

We're then on to our feature event of the year this Friday, and the biggest event at the racecourse for some time, when UB40 will be performing live after racing. Tickets are still available but availability is very limited, to book your tickets call the racecourse office on 01902 390000.

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Innovative Racing Gets Underway At Wolverhampton Racecourse

At 2.15pm on Monday 8 runners and riders made British history by being the first to race on a Tapeta surface in Great Britain. Five furlongs was the distance tackled by these history makers, and in a time of 1 minute and 3 seconds the very impressive Primrose Valley (pictured) was first past the post for Frederik Tylicki and Ed Vaughan, by some 6 lengths!

It was a fitting tribute to all-weather surfaces that a horse owned by Alan Pickering would win the first race. Alan is great advocate of all-weather racing, often sending his runners to Lingfield Park and Kempton Park to run on their Polytrack surfaces.

Two thousand interested racegoers turned out to witness how the track would act and the results couldn't have been more positive. Winners came from the front, from the back, up the inside running rail and around the outside of the field to finish down the middle. Little kickback was experienced all afternoon with winning first race trainer Ed Vaughan commenting, "there appeared to be virtually no kickback", and jockeys noting the surface was faultless.

James Doyle, who has been enjoying a fantastic season aboard the sublime Kingman, rode a double on the day with victories coming aboard Angels Wings in the 3.15 and Madame Mirasol in the 4.15, for Charles Hills and Kevin Ryan respectively. The jollies had a good day in Wolverhampton, winning 4 of the 7 races, including the lucky last when William Buick gave Warrigal a superb ride to bag his only winner of the day for the in form Jeremy Noseda, James Doyle was only 3/4 of a length behind on Cousin Khee but Buick's victory was never in doubt after he took the lead over a furlong out.

Tapeta inventor, Michael Dickinson, was in attendance for the afternoon and said after the fixture, "We are delighted to have helped bring Tapeta to British Racing. The track has proved fair and formful, and every jockey has reported it as a safe surface to ride on. We hope it will provide years of excellent racing at Wolverhampton. We will continue to work closely with the team at Wolverhampton to ensure the track meets the needs of horses and jockeys."

Interested to see Timeform's review of the fixture? Check it out here.

All eyes now turn to Monday evening's fixture, first race off at 6.20pm, and Primrose Valley holds an entry in the feature race in the 8.50. Join us for another fantastic fixture, tickets from just £10.